NORWICH — The presence of E. coli found in two lots of wheat flour milled at a plant in Buffalo, N.Y., has led King Arthur Flour to voluntary recall its most popular flour brand from store shelves around the country.
King Arthur Flour, which operates a bakery and cafe-restaurant in Norwich and a warehouse and fulfillment center in White River Junction, announced this week that it had recalled a total of 34 lots of 5-pound bags and one lot of 25-pound bags of Unbleached All-Purpose Flour after third-party testing had revealed the presence of a strain of E. coli in two of the lots.
The recall had not been mandated by any government agency but instead was being undertaken by the company “out of an abundance of caution,” said Ralph Carlton, co-CEO and chief financial officer of King Arthur Flour.
The bags in the recall include those with “best used by” dates ranging from Dec. 4, 2019, through Jan. 15, 2020, that match the affected lot numbers. Lot numbers can be found at kingarthurflour.com or by calling the company hotline at 866-797-9178.
The 25-pound bags are distributed only through retailer Costco. Carlton said a small number of the 5-pound bags were purchased in Norwich.
Carlton said King Arthur learned “approximately a week ago” that “third party sampling” had detected a strain known as E. coli O26 in batches of flour processed at a plant operated by ADM Milling Co. in Buffalo. ADM Milling is a unit of Archer Daniels Midland Co., the giant Chicago-based agribusiness and commodities trading firm.
Carlton said that King Arthur “has not received any confirmed reports or illnesses related to this product.” He called the brand in the familiar white-and-red bag “our largest selling product and one we are incredibly proud of, our flagship product.”
The particular strain involved in the King Arthur recall, E. coli O26, can cause acute, often bloody diarrhea and stomach cramps. Most people recover within a week, the company said, though children and the elderly can be vulnerable to a illness that can cause their kidneys to fail.
A similar voluntary recall over possible E. coli O26 contamination was issued last month by General Mills, maker of Gold Medal Unbleached All Purpose Flour and in May recalls were issued for brands under the Pillsbury and ALDI labels.
King Arthur’s recall is actually an “expansion” of a recall of the same flour brand from the same ADM processing plant that company announced in June. At that time, King Arthur recalled a total of six lots involving 14,218 cases of 5-pound bags, or about 114,000 bags, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
On Friday, Carlton declined to quantify the size or value of this week’s recall or how many bags of flour it involved.
He said that the flour, although supplied by one of the world’s biggest producer of food ingredients, is nonetheless milled to King Arthur’s “unique specifications.”
Anyone with the affected flour should throw it away and may submit a claim for a refund through the King Art hur website, or by calling the 866-797-9178 hotline, the company said.
John Lippman can be reached at jlippman@vnews. com.
